MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 27 /PRNewswire/ -- Protein Design Labs Inc. (PDL) (NASDAQ: PDLI) today announced key appointments in its new clinical department, naming Paul I. Nadler, M.D., to the position of vice president, Medical and Regulatory Affairs, and Corine K. Klingbeil, Ph.D., to the position of director, Preclinical Development.
Nadler will be responsible for planning and directing clinical trials of PDL's humanized or SMART(TM) Antibodies. He also will be in charge of PDL's interactions with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) on all issues relating to product development and regulatory compliance. Klingbeil will design and manage preclinical studies including pharmacology and toxicology.
Nadler, 43, was vice president, Medical Research, for Sandoz Research Institute from 1988 to 1991, where he was responsible for clinical development in virology, oncology, immunology and allergy. Since 1992, he has been vice president, Scientific Planning and Evaluation at Sandoz. Previously he held senior clinical and research positions with Hoffmann-La Roche and Knoll Pharmaceuticals. Klingbeil, 38, was director of Preclinical Development at Scios Nova from 1990 to 1992. She will report to Nadler.
"With these important appointments, PDL has the highly experienced personnel in place to manage our clinical program," said Laurence Jay Korn, Ph.D., president and chief executive officer of PDL. "Drs. Nadler and Klingbeil have experience that is ideal for moving forward PDL's pipeline of protein products in virology, oncology and autoimmune disease."
Two PDL-developed compounds are in clinical trials, and at least two more are expected to enter the clinic in the next 18 months. A Phase I clinical trial for PDL's SMART(TM) M195 Antibody, which has potential for myeloid leukemia, is being conducted at the Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center. Trials are expected to commence in the second half of 1993 for the SMART Anti-Herpes Antibody and by mid-1994 for another of PDL's SMART Antibodies. SMART Anti-Tac, with potential for prevention and treatment of graft-versus-host disease, kidney transplant rejection and certain blood cancers, has completed a Phase I clinical trial under the management of Hoffmann-La Roche, which has worldwide marketing rights to that compound.
In his career, Nadler has directed the filing of more than two dozen Investigational New Drug (IND) Applications and has worked on six Product License Applications and New Drug Applications. He received his M.D. at the Washington University School of Medicine and is board- certified in internal medicine.
"I am delighted to join the team at PDL at this time when the exciting products of their research in the areas I've been working in for the last 15 years are entering the clinic," Nadler said. "My goal is to expeditiously move PDL's products through the clinic in an effort to improve the delivery of health care."
Klingbeil supported the filing of several INDs during six years at Scios Nova (formerly California Biotechnology). She receiver her Ph.D. in endocrinology at the University of California, Santa Barbara, and was a post-doctoral fellow at the University of California at San Francisco School of Medicine.
Protein Design Labs, founded in 1986, is engaged in the computer- based design and development of antibodies and other novel proteins. The company's initial product development focus is on SMART Antibodies, which PDL believes will be less immunogenic than mouse monoclonal antibodies and thus will be more effective as human therapeutics. PDL uses proprietary computer modeling techniques to combine the binding site of a mouse antibody with a large part of a human antibody. The resulting SMART Antibodies are more than 90-percent human and they retain high-binding affinity for the target antigens.
-0- 1/27/93
/CONTACT: Peter Dworkin, director of corporate communications of Protein Design Labs, 415-903-3721/
(PDLI)

CO: Protein Design Labs Inc. ST: California IN: MTC SU: PER

GT-SG -- SJ006 -- 9399 01/27/93 07:00 EST

COPYRIGHT 1993 PR Newswire Association LLC
No portion of this article can be reproduced without the express written permission from the copyright holder.